The present invention relates generally to the field of wire interconnect, and more particularly to gold wire bonding at room temperature.
Wire bonding is used to electrically connect two devices together. In the integrated circuit (IC) industry, wire bonding connects IC chips to package leadframes or printed circuit boards (PCB). Aluminum and gold are the predominant choices for the wire used in wire bonding. Gold is more conductive, malleable, and resistant to corrosion than aluminum, so it is the preferred interconnect metal when the aforementioned properties are important.
Two common methods for bonding gold wire are thermocompression and thermosonic bonding. In thermocompression, pressure and heat are applied to the wire and bond pad interface to make a metallic bond. The heating of the interface results in temperatures around 250 degrees Celsius. In thermosonic bonding, heat and ultrasonic energy are applied to the wire and bond pad interface to form a metallic bond. Typical temperatures for thermosonic bonding are around 125 degrees Celsius. Both methods require heat to make a bond. Unfortunately, there are many sensitive devices such as the Agilent All Optical Switch that cannot tolerate high heat. The elevated temperatures used in both thermocompression and thermosonic bonding would ruin these devices. Devices bonded using these two methods also require warm-up and cool-down periods during assembly. These time-consuming delays slow down the entire manufacturing process.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,162 (hereinafter, xe2x80x9cthe ""162 patentxe2x80x9d), a method is described for bonding gold wire to aluminum bond pads at room temperature, using ultrasonic energy and compressive force. However, the high frequencies (above 200 kHz, particularly in the range of 235 to 245 kHz) of ultrasonic energy necessary to the method taught in the ""162 patent are not currently available in commercial wire bonders. Instead, wire bonders must be specially modified to produce the frequencies called for in the ""162 patent. Furthermore, the ""162 patent requires modification of the capillary device that holds the wire. Modifications such as these make the method of the ""162 patent cumbersome to implement.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a method of bonding gold wire at decreased temperatures, preferably at room temperature, at a frequency lower than 200 kHz, particularly at frequencies produced by current, unmodified, commercial wire bonders.
The present invention is a method for bonding gold wire at lower temperatures, and more particularly at room temperature, defined to be 25 degrees Celsius. By applying compressive force and ultrasonic energy, an intermetallic bond can be formed between a gold wire and a gold bond pad without applying heat. Furthermore, the present invention uses ultrasonic energy with frequencies low enough to be in the range of commercially available wire bonders.
In a preferred embodiment, the gold wire is vibrated against a gold bond pad at frequencies between 100-138 kHz, with power between 75-220 mW, a force between 40-150 grams, and a bond time between 20-70 milliseconds. Commercially available bonders such as the Advanced Semiconductor Materials (ASM) AB 339 can readily produce these aforementioned parameters. No modification of the AB 339 is needed to bond gold wire to gold bond pads at room temperature.
Further features of the present invention, as well as the structure and operation of preferred embodiments of the present invention, are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying exemplary drawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers indicate identical or functionally similar elements.